A good guide to India (Rough Guide India)

Member Name: sun-is-shining

Product:	Rough Guide India
Date:	01/06/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: godd information, helpful

Disadvantages: none

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I used the fifth edition!
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I almost know this book by memory know and it was my loyal travel buddy on my previous trip to India. I prefer the Rough Guide to the Lonely planet - it's nothing I could point the finger on just a personal preference. Oh, I prefer the name . come on, as soon as they publish a new lonely planet the place is not lonely anymore :-)

I found this book a great help planning my trip and still look at it from time to time thinking back of my great time in India.
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Chapters

The Rough Guide is divided into the following chapters. The division is made by geographical area and is easy to understand/use.

-Colour section - this is my favourite as it contains '30 things not to miss'. It's great to see photos of places you want to visit and can offer you alternatives you never thought about before.

- The Basics - general history and geographic information, India fact file tips&tricks
- Delhi
- Rajasthan
- uttar pradesh
- uttaranchal
- madhya pradesh
- himachal ptadesh
- ladakh
- haryana and punjab
- gujarat
- mumbai
- maharashtra
- goa
- kolkata and west bengal
- bihar and jharkhand
- sikkim
- the northeast
- orissa
- andhra pradesh
- the andaman islands
- tamil nadu
- kerala
- karnatake
- The Context chapter with A-Z information with facts about people, music, art, lifestyle and religion
- a short language section which can be essential when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere and nobody understands English.

They all share the same with practical and historical information at the beginning as well as the highlights of the region. This is followed by Accommodation, City and surroundings and how to get there and how to get away.
Here is an example of an entry for a GH in Mumbai:

Aga Bheg's & Hotel Kishan. Ground & second floor, Shirin Manzil, Walton Rd. 022/2284 2227. Aga Bheg's has lurid pink walls and little wooden blue beds, though it's clean, cool and quiet. Hotel Kishan's more comfy a/c rooms are better value.

Easy to understand with address, phone number and description
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Photos

I really enjoy looking at photos of places I want to travel to, they just put some meat on the bone. The Rough Guide has lots of high quality colour photos in the first section. I don't know why but I usually prefer the Rough Guide photos to the ones in the Lonely Planet.

There are many black and white snapshots throughout the book - but of course they are not as tempting as the coloured ones.
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Down-side

The only thing worth mentioning is that instead of writing the prices next to every GH/Restaurant they give you the accommodation price code which means looking back and forth through the whole book. I'd prefer the prices!
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Rating

As I already said above I value this book a lot and wouldn't want to miss it on my upcoming trip. The price is with 15.99 Pound normal for a travel book and the Rough Guides are still cheaper than the Lonely Planet guides.

An overall rating of 9 out of 10
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Summary: A loyal travel buddy